Choose your state
Ranked by how much an EV saves on fuel each year.
An EV's running cost is set by two numbers moving in opposite directions: what you pay for electricity and what you would have paid for gasoline. Wyoming comes out best because it pairs expensive fuel with relatively cheap power. District of Columbia is the weakest for the reverse reason.
The third factor is where you plug in. Public fast charging costs several times the residential rate, so an owner without a driveway can pay double what a home charger pays for the same miles. That single variable decides more arguments about EV running costs than anything else.
Fuel costs only — excludes purchase price, depreciation, insurance and maintenance.
Data vintage: Electricity: EIA Electric Power Monthly Table 5.6.B (residential, May 2026 YTD). Solar resource: PVGIS v5.3 (EU JRC), ERA5 2005-2023. Gasoline: AAA state averages. Natural gas: EIA residential by state. Heating degree days: NOAA CPC population-weighted normals. Residential consumption: EIA Electric Sales, Revenue, and Average Price Table 5.A, average monthly kWh per residential customer, 2024. Vehicle miles: FHWA Highway Statistics 2023. Retrieved 2026-08-03/04 and 2026-08-21. Install costs, net-metering status, time-of-use spreads and outage hours remain estimates.